SINGAPORE - After his friends organised a surprise birthday party for him, Aarav Malik, now 19, was inspired to do the same for others.

In 2024, he started a ground-up project Expedition Joy, to organise birthday parties every quarter for disadvantaged youth and the elderly at partner organisations. These include The Salvation Army and Red Cross Singapore.

Sponsored by Temasek Foundation OSCAR Fund and private donor Ferns & Philo, the initiative celebrates residents whose birthdays fell in the preceding quarter. Parties are held at venues such as Gracehaven Children’s Home and are organised with the help of volunteers.

This was one of 11 groups featured at the Festival of Deeds by Kids, an event meant to connect socially-minded youth. Others include Project Phoenix, which teaches latchkey children simple magic tricks to boost their confidence and build public speaking skills.

The children put up a performance at the festival on June 5, which was organised by Little But Loud, a ground-up initiative started by three young siblings.

During the event, Little But Loud launched a new initiative to provide a platform for social initiatives driven by youth, to help sustain efforts that often start in school but lose momentum once their founders graduate.

In the coming year, the Network of Deeds by Kids plans to engage over 150 youths, with members receiving mentorship, training and opportunities to work together.

The June 5 festival is supported by the Temasek Foundation OSCAR Fund, which aims to build an environment of care through ground-up initiatives, and the SG Partnerships Fund, launched by the Singapore Government Partnerships Office to support citizen-led partnerships.

Little But Loud was founded in 2021 by three siblings who were then aged nine, seven and four, with the support of their parents.

It started as an idea when their mother was too tired to read them a bedtime story, prompting Lee Jia Ying, now 11, to read to her siblings instead.